Every Indian village to have optical fibre cable connectivity in 1,000 days
20 Aug 2020
Each village in the country, including those in the remotest areas of the country, will be connected with optical fibre cable (OFC) in next 1,000 days Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech.
The government also plans to connect far flung islands like Lakshadweep with undersea optical fibre cable, after Andaman and Nicobar Islands was recently connected to the mainland using undersea cable.
“In the coming 1,000 days, every village in the country will be connected with optical fibre cable,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address on the occasion of 74th Independence Day.
Modi mentioned that before 2014, only 5 dozen panchayats in the country were connected with optical fibre cable. In the last five years, nearly 1.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country have been connected with optical fibre cable. He further said that participation of rural India and villages in Digital India is very important for balanced development of India. To enable this, the government will rapidly expand our optical fibre network so as to reach all the 6 lakh villages within 1,000 days.
“Today you have entrusted Department of Telecommunications with the responsibility to connect all the villages of India by optical fibre Internet in 1000 days. It's a game changer for Digital India. With your inspiration we will do it,” minister for electronics and IT and communications Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted.
During the 74th Independence Day speech PM also announced that in the next 1,000 days, Lakshadweep will be connected with submarine optical fibre cable. "We have around 1,300 islands. Keeping in mind their geographical location and their significance in the development of the nation, work on new projects in some of these islands is underway. We have chosen some islands for rapid development. Recently, we connected Andaman and Nicobar Islands with an undersea cable for better internet service. Next, we will connect Lakshadweep," he said.
Earlier this week PM Modi inaugurated the undersea optic fibre link between Chennai and Port Blain in Andaman and Nicobar to ensure high-speed broadband connectivity for the union territory at par with services in the cities like Delhi and Chennai.
OFC connectivity to the villages and submarine OFC to the Lakshadeep islands will help the people in rural areas/villages and those in Lakshadweep islands in getting cheaper and better connectivity and all the benefits of Digital India, especially in improving online education, tele-medicine, banking system, online trading, boosting tourism and skill development etc, Ravi Shankar Prasad commented.